A CoxOut homage to The Funny Bone, St. Louis
Some rooms are more than rooms.
You walk into The Funny Bone at Westport Plaza or the new one in St. Charles and it feels like something sacred. Not because the lights are bright or the tables are packed, but because you can feel the ghosts of punchlines past echoing off the walls. Forty years of laughter leave residue. It’s soaked into the carpet.
Since 1982, The Funny Bone has been St. Louis’ home for laughs, one of the longest-running comedy clubs in America. Think about that for a second. Forty years. Whole generations have grown up, raised kids, gotten divorced, and come back for date night, and this club just kept going.
Other clubs popped up and vanished. Westport’s Funny Bone endured. And now it’s not just survived; it’s multiplied, with a second location bringing those laughs to the Streets of St. Charles.
It’s part of a larger chain that started in Pittsburgh, when two guys named Mitch Kutash and Gerald Kubach decided to create a space where comedians could make a living doing what they loved. That small decision sparked a movement that helped launch names like Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld, Roseanne Barr, Chris Rock, Lewis Black, and Kathleen Madigan, who got her start right here in St. Louis and says a 30-week Funny Bone tour let her quit her day job for good.
That’s not just history; that’s heritage.
Why It Matters
In a streaming world full of clips and algorithms, the Funny Bone still does it the old-school way:
A stage. A mic. A spotlight.
You show up. You earn it. You bomb. You grow.
Every Tuesday night, the Open Mic at the Funny Bone Westport remains a proving ground for St. Louis comics. Four-minute sets, a two-drink minimum, and a room that doesn’t hand you anything. The audience might love you. They might stare through you. Either way, you learn something about yourself under those lights. Every comic in this city either has a Funny Bone story or wants one.
It’s not glamorous. It’s not viral. It’s real.
And that’s what makes it magic.
The Constant in a City of Change
The St. Louis comedy scene has seen waves of evolution: indie shows in bars, brewery stages, improv nights, TikTok comics testing bits on their phones. But through all of it, the Funny Bone stayed constant.
Back in 2010, one reporter called it “the one constant in the St. Louis comedy scene; others haven’t had the staying power.”
That’s the truth. You don’t last forty years by accident. You last because you believe in the craft, in the hard, human work of timing, tension, and truth.
And now, with two locations thriving, The Funny Bone is both a relic and a rebirth. A living artifact still drawing crowds, still breaking comics in, still reminding everyone why stand-up will never die.
A Local Treasure
If you’ve never sat in that room, let me paint it for you.
Low ceilings. Tight rows of tables. The smell of beer and anticipation. A stage just big enough for one person and their truth.
You can’t fake energy in a space like that. It either hits or it doesn’t.
And when it does, when the crowd’s with you, it’s church.
Comedy is one of the last honest art forms left. No filters. No edits. Just a human being holding a mic, testing their soul in real time. The Funny Bone gives that honesty a home.
So Here’s the Homage
To every comedian who’s stood under those lights, from local hopefuls to national legends, thank you for feeding the spirit of this city.
To the audiences who keep showing up, thank you for laughing when we need it most.
And to The Funny Bone, thank you for holding the line.
For staying true to the art.
For being the anchor that keeps St. Louis comedy rooted in something real.
In a world where everything’s becoming digital, this little club reminds us that laughter is still analog.
Still alive.
Still human.
Signed,
Ken Cox
CoxOut: Between the Mics
